Iffy’s floor is nice starter? He flashed a bit but that seems aggressive. Though given our secondary coaching I am bullish.
2 Likes
Day 3 will be spent researching and arguing about the future hall of fame careers of the guys we picked on day 1 and 2. lol
5 Likes
What is a nice starter? Amani Oruwariye? I think Iffy’s floor is a little below that, but when Iffy flashed so early in his shortened first season, I can see him exceeding A-O-2-4. Hope he stays healthy to find out.
2 Likes
Yup - I think AO and Iffy are nice pieces. Also would be FANTASTIC if Okudah could emerge as a #3 OA pick.
1 Like
Finishing 31st in pass defense necessitates not only adding a pass rusher (or two), but also adding as much talent as possible in the back end.
In most of my simulations I add a CB in those first 3 picks (usually McDuffy). The staff might feel bullish on Iffy or Okudah coming back strong but frankly neither has been able to stay healthy at all.
Combine that with Jacobs’ ACL tear, and Okudah’s ruptured Achilles and I can’t imagine not adding a CB in the first 5 picks. If they roll with what they had last year, I think that’s a recipe for another top 10 pick. You cannot rank 31st in passing yards and last in 3rd and 4th down conversion defense and hope to win many games. Oh, and we need a Safety worse than we need a CB !!
4 Likes
That I can agree with, for sure.
We have different strategies. I think the Best way to improving the pass defense is by cutting the QBs time to process in half (translation–> DL smashes their face in).
Jefferson, Okudah, and AO …IMO could turn out to be a pretty nice long term answer. I’d love to see how that situation sorts itself out before we go spending draft capital there. Could draft a top CB, then end up having 3 great ones already…then still suck at S, LB, WR, QB 
3 Likes
I feel the same way. I tend to believe we will take a CB early in the draft.
4 Likes
Do you think they’ll move Okudah to S?
How do you guys feel about JJ@CB?
How do you guys feel about AO?
How do you feel about Iffy?
I have no clue what to make of Okudah, or what they’ll do w/him.
I think AO is gonna be a really nice one, but maybe not great.
I feel like Iffy will be a really nice starter too.
I feel like JJ is a great depth guy, as a floor, with potential for more.
Is Okudah gonna be the Nickel guy? CB? S?
IMO, lots of question marks there.
You guys know the college dudes better than me, for sure. If BPA is CB by a mile, maybe you’ve just gotta do it.
Philosophically, I like to build the front 7 first. Obviously, a big talent at each level worked for the Rams this year, so who knows?
I wanna make the QB’s job so hard that our DBs dont have to cover for long.
Another difference may be that you believe in our current DL more than I do?
1 Like
Okudah - I think the jury is out on wether Okudah can return or not. Personally I think due to his injury that we shouldn’t count on it and we should approach the season as if his career is over because it very well could be. Achilles injuries can be career ending. Some guys just never fully recover and are out of the league shortly after. But to answer your question. If he returns I suspect we will line him up at CB.
JJ - I like him as depth. Gritty player. I think he’s best suited to be a nickel corner. In fact I think that’s what we brought him in to be. Injuries forced him into starting on the outside. He showed he can play out there but his speed makes him a liability vs fast wide receivers. Now he’s coming off his second ACL injury and that is definitely a huge concern. He kinda reminds me of Qundry Diggs and like Diggs I think he could make the move to free safety. However two ACL injuries tell me that he’s probably not a long term answer and that we shouldn’t count on him to be one.
AO - I am a fan of AO. I think he is developing well and is probably good enough to be your CB2 at this point. He’s best in zone coverages but has been improving in his pressman skills. He’s still developing but I think he has the tools to be a solid starter.
Iffy - He’s still a developing CB. I think he has potential to be a future starter but he’s probably a few years away. It may never happen but the potential is there. I was impressed with his man coverage skills but for a big guy I was hoping he’d be a little more physical in his press man. I felt he was more of a liability in zone. He gives up too much cushion for my taste but I think he does this because he’s not all that quick (or confident) on his recovery skills. Often when he got out of position he struggled to recover. Supposedly he ran a 4.48 forty but he didn’t look that fast to me. Personally I think AO will be a better pro. I do love his size and his potential so I have hope for the kid. I’m very curious to see how he performs this next year. I’m hoping to see some strides in his game.
I want to point out that I have confidence in our defensive coaching staff to be able to develop our young CB talent.
With all that said I think we have a ton of questions heading into this season. Our pass defense was ranked near the bottom in the NFL so as a group they really need to improve. I think we should seriously consider adding a CB high in the draft. Preferably someone who has starter potential. I’d also like to see us ad a nickel CB to compete with Jacobs. You can find those guys on day 3 of the draft. I also think we need safety help. It wouldn’t shock me if we drafted 3 DB’s out of this draft.
2 Likes
I think even if you take Okudah out the the situation I wouldn’t draft a CB. Sign a solid vet this offseason (Casey Hayward for example). Amani proved he can be a pretty good starter at CB. Jacobs was getting better every week and definitely has some potential. ACLs are not a big injury concern they just take a little time to recover. Iffy flashed some real potential so you have options out there and so did Parker in the nickel.
You could let AO, Jacobs. iffy, and Hayward al compete to start. That’s a solid group.
As far as Okudah I think it would be unwise to move forward with the assumption that he won’t contribute. We can’t fix every hole in one season so why not see how there young CBS (including Okudah) fair in 2022 without devoting even more high end resources there.
1 Like
Take the worst of the “great” CB’s and make him a Safety. Happens regularly.
1 Like
As we should. You can never have enough corners and it’s an excellent class.
2 Likes
Oooof! I didn’t know this was his 2nd one.
Really appreciate this response brother. Thank you for taking the time.
1 Like
This is what I think too. If BPA talent is fairly equal, lean toward front 7. Lots of unanswered questions in the defensive backfield. We KNOW we need a S, but the CBs could be okay or even good, already. With the type of Defensive Line I’d like for them to have, they’d be good enough. I wanna spend money and resources on something like what we had with Suh/Fairley/Jones/Ansah.
1 Like
With Okudah out of equation you do not have a CB1 and you have a 28th ranked pass defense.
Odds are he won’t be the same. Right now he’s a huge question mark. Even when he was healthy he still wasn’t living up to his draft stock.
Take into account you have JJ working on his second ACL surgery and your potentially down two CB’s
I know you like what we have but your putting an awful lot of stock into guys coming back from injury. Hoping they contribute and your putting an awful lot of stock that a 28th ranked pass defense will significantly improve.
We need more talent and we need more bodies.
2 Likes
And yet several people here are saying this offseason is no more consequential than any other.
1 Like
This may turn out to be exactly the case. It really could. I would be more in line with your way of thinking if we were making a SB run next year. I just feel like we KNOW we need LB, S DL help…now…for sure.
To me, the defensive backfield has question marks and we should proceed with caution. Even if we had 3 really good DTs on the team, if a Suh type came up…you take him, because he would help your team more…and helps the pass defense more than any one CB ever could.
I think the best way to help the pass defense is with a monster rush that makes it look like a hand grenade went off in the pocket.
Trenches first approach, for me.
Also -I’ll trust whatever they do, for sure.
2 Likes
Here’s an article that just came out less than an hour ago on Iffy. This article was pretty harsh but it pointed out the exact same things I did.
I actually thought he showed promise in man coverage but he wasn’t as physical in press as you’d expect. I also pointed out his recovery concerns. This article touches on those same concerns.
The article even suggests that he might not make the final 53. Which I think is a bit of a hot take. However like I said above he’s a developing CB that is a few years away.
Here’s the article.
https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/.amp/news/four-things-ifeatu-melifonwu-must-improve-upon
2 Likes
I know it isnt your take… but like on 97.1 when karsch and Anderson do their bold ass or dumb ass predictions, i would say the idea iffy doesnt make the 53 next year severly leans toward dumb ass but i suppose anything is possible.
1 Like
A pass rush definitely helps and I’m hoping we land Hutch at 2OA. If we do, and Harris is back then I like what we have on the edge.
It’s DT that’s the bigger concern for me.
I firmly believe we need better DT play. Especially vs the run. Levi really needs to make a step forward and be the 3T we desperately need.
However DT’s can be plug and play as rookies while most CB’s take 3 seasons before they become a quality starter.
I’m not opposed to taking a DT especially if there’s a really good option out there but I think CB’s are harder to find and take longer to develop.
1 Like